Princess Anne once helped groom for her.

The Queen’s jeweller, Asprey’s, was her sponsor.

Although probably best known for being the only person to have won a gold medal for Ireland in 56 years she’s never drunk a Guinness in her life.

Before every event she would lay her riding clothes out neatly, in the same order and sing at the top of her voice powerful motivational songs while she got dressed. Her favourite Tina Turner’s Simply the Best. It obviously worked because she ended up by representing Ireland, becoming Open European Three Day Event Champion for three-years running and winning three gold medals.

As if that wasn’t enough, she competed at Badminton no less than nine times placed in the top 20. Her highest placing was 8th. She was also presented with the Armada Dish for successfully completing the course on five separate occasions.

“The Tina ~Turner songs were the best,” says Lucy Thompson. “They were always very powerful, very motivational. They always got me going.”

Look at the facts, however, and it’s difficult to believe Lucy needed anyone to motivate her. From the beginning, she always seemed to have no problems motivating herself.

Her father is a Yorkshireman, a doctor, not interested in horses at all.

Her mother is Irish, an occupational therapist, a keen horsewoman although she never competed.
With her two brothers both older than her, the family lived in Lingfield, Surrey, close to the race course for over 20-years.

“I supposed I discovered horses when I was about five-years-old,” she says. “My brother, James, was given a pony on loan. I then inherited him from my brother. He was a little Welsh Mountain pony, Acorn, about 12 hh, ten-years-old. He was a trial. He was determined to put everybody off riding. He bucked. He bolted. Nobody could stay on him.

“After Acorn we had lots of borrowed ponies until I was 13 when I got the first horse I really owned. He was called Countryman. Irish-bred unbroken 4 year-old. I didn’t know anything about breaking in horses. It was the blind leading the blind. I was 16 before I could ride him properly.

“Then I did Juniors and Young Riders. I went to Belgium. I went to Germany. Like William Fox-Pitt, Pippa Funnel, Tina Cooke and all the others. It was then that I really caught the bug and I decided that was what I wanted to do.

“My father, however, insisted that I finished my A-levels in case I didn’t succeed so I had something to fall back on. He also said I had to find a sponsor. I was so lucky. My dressage trainer was Sarah Whitmore. She introduced me to Asprey’s. From the time I was 18-years-old to the time I retired in 1998 they continued to sponsor me. It was wonderful. I think I’m the first and only rider they have ever sponsored.”

From then, Lucy never looked back.

“I did my first Badminton when I was 20-years-old. I did all the major three-and four-star events. The highlight was, of course, jumping with the Irish team and winning the Open European Championships on Welton Romance at Pratoni in Rome in 1995. That was then the equivalent of winning the World Cup.

“It was just great fun. I can remember buying drinks for everyone in the bar afterwards. It was ridiculously expensive. I can remember looking at all the lira, working it out in pounds and suddenly realising that I had probably spent all my prize-money on buying drinks.”

Not that that was the only hair-raising moment in her life.

“I’ve broken collar bones, vertebrae, ankles, different fingers. But it’s all been worth it. At Badminton I remember at the quarry we were meant to jump a log and land on a slope. Instead we plummeted straight to the bottom. I came off then.

“One of my luckiest escapes was in New Zealand. I was with the Irish team. We were on borrowed horses. I remember I was jumping a treble. We jumped the first one. The horse then ran out. I can remember my left foot touching the top of the saddle and I saw his belly but somehow I managed to get back on and finish the course. The New Zealanders said we were only there for the entertainment, from the standing ovation I got I presume I gave them some."

“In the end, I had to retire because of my back. But I’ve no regrets. I’ve had a fantastic time.” Would she advise young girls today to follow in her footsteps?

“It’s a very hard career,” she says. “There are lots of highs and lots of lows. But if it’s what you want to do, it’s a shame not to do it. If you don’t, you’ll always regret not doing it or, at least, not trying to do it. Of course, it can be dangerous. But danger is relative. It’s no more dangerous than driving a car. In fact, in many ways it’s the danger that makes it so much fun and why everybody looks after each other.

“I can remember, for example, at the Young Riders in Germany. I finished my round. I was exhausted. Princess Anne, who was also competing, came up to me. She told me to sit down because she was going to wash my horse down for me. I did as she said. I felt much better afterwards. I tell everyone now that she was my groom. She was incredibly grounded. She was a real team member.

“Today, however, it’s a very different sport. Before, there was more endurance, we had to do roads and tracks. There was a steeplechase course. Today, the format is shorter but it is also more technical.

“You also need a different type of horse. He’s got to be a very good mover, very obedient, easy to turn. He’s got to be a good jumper. Very rideable. He needs plenty of courage. More than anything, he’s got to love what he’s doing.”

Lucy may have given up riding but she’s never far away from horses.

She teaches both in this country and in different countries overseas. She is a Master Practitioner in Neurolinguistic Programming. She loves racing, especially National Hunt. She’s even been to a Wild West Rodeo in Oregan.

“They’re nuts,” she says.

Lucy has also taken up painting.

“I love water-colours,” she says. “Still lifes. Landscapes.”

Horses?

“No. I never paint horses. I wouldn’t do it well enough.”

Come on, Lucy. Three choruses of any Tina Turner song, you can do anything.